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Yuvraj’s all-round show outdone by Delhi
Posted by: | CommentsTeams have had trouble defending targets in excess of 180 in this tournament but Pune were on course to do so, with Delhi needing 41 runs off the last three overs with five wickets in hand. Yuvraj had tripped his opponents’ progress by dismissing Irfan Pathan and Naman Ojha off successive deliveries in the 13th over. Delhi, however, had kept a couple of their power-hitters back and Aaron Finch and Venugopal Rao matched the demanding asking-rate.
The over that won the game for Delhi was the 18th, bowled by Shrikant Wagh, off which they scored 20, slashing the equation to 21 needed off 12. Finch, batting at No. 7, broke the game open with two huge strikes over the long-on boundary.
Delhi Daredevils used the depth of their revamped batting order to complete a thrilling chase at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, securing their maiden victory after two losses, and handing Pune Warriors their first defeat in the 2011 IPL. Delhi’s team effort upstaged a terrific all-round performance from Yuvraj Singh, whose half-century had powered Pune to 187 before his four-wicket haul was the difference between Delhi winning at a canter and having to sweat until the final over.
There was another twist, though, as Yuvraj bowled the 19th and had Finch caught and bowled with his first ball and dismissed Venugopal with his last. Between Finch’s dismissal and his, however, Venugopal had clattered Yuvraj over long-on and to fine leg.
That left Delhi with only 8 to get off the final over, which Yuvraj gave to Jesse Ryder ahead of his seamers, who had gone for plenty. James Hopes, having faced only two balls in the IPL, crashed his third cleanly over Ryder’s head for six, and carved the next through backward point to spark off celebrations in the Delhi dug out.
Such a tense finish was a remote possibility when David Warner and Virender Sehwag were batting, and for the first time in the tournament showcased just how explosive an opening combination they can be. Warner was all muscle, bludgeoning the ball down the ground and square of the wicket. He was particularly severe on the South African pair, taking three boundaries off one Wayne Parnell over and hitting Alfonso Thomas for four, six and six off consecutive deliveries. At the end of the Powerplay, Delhi had scored 67, four more than Pune had.
Warner was eventually run out for 46 and Sehwag, after scoring 37 off 23, had his middle stump knocked back in the 10th over. Pune had finally got through Delhi’s powerful top order but they failed to break the lower-middle.
The difference between the two sides was the number of batsmen that pulled weight: four for Delhi while only Ryder and Yuvraj for Pune. The free-spirited Ryder struck the tournament’s second-fastest fifty, off 24 balls, laying into mediocre bowling from Venugopal, Pathan and Umesh Yadav. He swung hard, aiming straight or over midwicket, and made powerful contact several times.
Delhi began to pull Pune back after Ryder’s dismissal with Hopes bowling tight overs and dismissing the dangerous Robin Uthappa cheaply. Only one wicket stood between Delhi and keeping Pune to a merely competitive total, but they failed to take it.
Yuvraj got into his stride with a sweep and a six on the leg-side off Shahbaz Nadeem, and he punished Pathan by slamming him over long-off, but it wasn’t until the final over that he really hurt Delhi. After taking two off Ashok Dinda’s second ball and top-edging the third over the wicketkeeper for four, Yuvraj sent the last three flying into the crowds at midwicket and long-on with powerful swings off the front foot. Pune plundered 26 runs off the 20th, but ultimately that didn’t cost Delhi the game.
Balaji star for Kolkata’s win
Posted by: | CommentsBuoyed by Balaji’s feat, a charged-up Kolkata applied the squeeze with discipline in bowling and desperation in the field. Iqbal Abdulla produced two sparkling moments: he first got one to dip and turn to leave Amit Paunikar stranded out of the crease before he produced a stunning effort in the field. He charged across and dived to stop a push-drive at short mid-on region off his own bowling and was shaping to throw at the striker’s end when he realised that damage had to be done at the other end. He switched his arm at the very last instant to fire down a direct hit to run out Faiz Fazal.
Balaji produced a magical delivery to knock out the dangerous Shane Watson in his first spell before he returned to torpedo the lower order. The delivery that took out Watson was one of the best, if not the best, delivery bowled by a seamer this IPL. It landed on the good length around the middle stump line and jagged away sharply past the waft to hit the top of the off stump. Balaji screamed, his team-mates were delirious, and the crowd roared; everyone knew the importance of Watson’s dismissal, accentuated even more by the absence of Rahul Dravid and Johan Botha in the line-up. He later returned to remove Ajinkya Rahane with an incutter and had Ashok Menaria upper cutting to thirdman.
The wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla got in the act next to play his part in removing Ross Taylor in the 11th over. Taylor had overbalanced out of his crease, trying to flick a wide delivery down the leg side but Bisla reacted quickly to whip off the bails.
It was then the turn of Shakib Al Hasan to leave his imprint on the game. He reacted quickly at midwicket to fire an accurate throw at the striker’s end to run out Abhishek Raut. Later, after Balaji had taken out Rahane and Menaria, Shakib took wickets off successive deliveries in the 15th over to hasten the end. Two arm-balls, with varying pace, took out Amit Singh and Shaun Tait for ducks, before Brett Lee rearranged Siddharth Trivedi’s stumps to give Kolkata a perfect finish.
The chase wasn’t a stroll, though. Jacques Kallis fell for a second-ball duck, top edging a lifter from Shaun Tait, and Manvinder Bisla fell to Shane Warne after a scratchy knock. Gautam Gambhir, however, stayed till the end to finish the job.
At Taunton, Bears triumph
Posted by: | CommentsSomerset, pre-season title favorites suffered a disastrous start to their LV County Championship campaign as they were crushed by Warwickshire by an innings and 382 runs at Taunton.
In reply to the Bears’ 642,having managed 210 first time around, Marcus Trescothick’s side were blown away for just 50 after being asked to bat again.
Rikki Clarke ran through the tail to finish with 5-10 but it was Chris Woakes who did the early damage to further his England claims.
The all-rounder followed up his 129 with the bat with a six-wicket haul in Somerset’s first innings, dismissing three of the final four batsmen on Saturday morning after the hosts had resumed on 147-6.
Chris Woakes then claimed a further three scalps, opener Trescothick amongst them to leave the score at 7-4, to finish with impressive match figures of 9-101.
Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler managing 13 and 12 respectively – as their second innings lasted a paltry 14.4 overs.
Gambhir and Kallis set KKR’s win
Posted by: | CommentsThe first game-seizing moment of the chase came in the sixth over, bowled by Amit Singh. Kolkata were 44 for 1 from five overs and it was obvious that they had to fully utilise the new ball and the Powerplay on this slow track. It was an over that could have tilted the game either way: Amit tried to keep it tight, Gambhir took risks, two shots eluded palms of fielders in the off side but not by much, and Gambhir looted 18 runs. He flat-batted the first ball past the diving Ross Taylor at extra cover, slashed the third past the diving Abhishek Raut at point, glanced the fourth to fine-leg, and crashed the final delivery over mid-off.
Kolkata Knight Riders won by nine wickets and with nine deliveries to spare. It shouldn’t have been that easy but Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis starred in a supremely well-paced chase as Kolkata successfully hunted down a potentially tough 160-run target on a sluggish track in Jaipur.
Gambhir found great support in Kallis, who was instrumental in starting the chase in a positive fashion. He lifted Ashok Menaria’s left-arm spin for a four and a six over long-off in the third over, whipped Shane Watson to midwicket and slashed Nayan Doshi through backward point. He dropped anchor once Gambhir took over the baton.
The second turning point was Gambhir’s contest with Shane Warne, who introduced himself in the seventh over. Gambhir cut his third delivery through the covers, and slog swept the first ball of the 10th over to collect another four. When Warne gave himself another over, to try and pick up a wicket, Gambhir sashayed down the track and scythed a flighted delivery through extra cover. By the end of that over, Kolkata only needed 58 runs from 48 balls and Gambhir and Kallis stayed till the end to achieve a comfortable win.
Rajasthan would probably wish they had played Shaun Tait to create wicket-taking opportunities but they had put up a pretty decent batting effort. Fuelled by calculated aggression from Rahul Dravid and Menaria, who seemed to be aiming for something around 160, Rajasthan reached 75 for 1 from 11 overs. It seemed at that stage that their job, especially Dravid’s, was done and it was time to hand the reins over to Shane Watson and Ross Taylor.
In the 12th over, Yusuf Pathan had a double strike – Dravid didn’t connect with a slog and Menaria swatted a return catch, and the stage was set for the two big hitters. Rajasthan seized momentum by looting 14 runs in the 16th over with Taylor spanking a long hop and a full toss from L Balaji for sixes.
There was a mini-contest too on show: Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s captain,who saw Watson wreck their side only few days back was entrusted with the task of bowling at him. Shakib himself had just given 26 runs from 20 deliveries to Watson on that day and so, it wasn’t going to be a one-sided contest. Watson heaved Shakib Al Hasan for a straight six in the 14th over and slog-swept him over wide midwicket for another six in the 17th over. Shakib slowed up the pace on the next delivery and Watson was bowled as he missed another attempted slog sweep. Rajasthan were 125 for 4 at that stage, and Taylor stayed till the end to guide them to a good total. But they were thwarted by a fabulous captain’s knock from Gambhir.
Kochi wins over Sachin’s century
Posted by: | CommentsTwo of the world’s finest Twenty20 batsmen, Brendon McCullum and Mahela Jayawardene, constructed chalk-and-cheese half-centuries to power Kochi’s pursuit of 183. Both perished to Lasith Malinga’s deadly deliveries but Kochi, who had stumbled in the final stretch of their first two games, didn’t slip up this time as Ravindra Jadeja and Brad Hodge muscled boundaries to finish the game with an over to spare.
Two weeks ago, the crowd at the Wankhede was delirious though a fervently anticipated Sachin Tendulkar century didn’t materialise. On Friday, the same crowd went home dejected despite Tendulkar crafting his first Twenty20 century, as Kochi Tuskers Kerala busted their party with one of the most memorable chases in IPL history.
Tendulkar’s effort checked off another item on his ever-shrinking to-do list, and Mumbai ran up a tall total without needing contributions from Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds and Kieron Pollard. It was then assumed that the bowlers would make the rest of the game a formality, but McCullum firmly put that assumption to rest by muscling three boundaries between mid-off and cover in Malinga’s second over. The next big jump came in the sixth over from Pollard as McCullum swatted a four past midwicket and Jayawardene eased boundaries behind square on either side of the wicket.
McCullum kept skating out of the crease and lashing the ball through the off side right through his innings, while Jayawardene was content shuffling across and using the bowler’s pace, rarely powering the ball. The difference between the two batsmen’s innings was highlighted in the ninth over as McCullum smashed the first ball over long-off, and Jayawardene reverse-paddled the fifth ball off the back of the bat for four.
The Mumbai fielding made things worse for the home team. Rohit Sharma dropped McCullum at first slip off the first ball, and Jayawardene was given a life by Ali Murtuza at backward point.
With dew making it difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball, both batsmen kept picking off the boundaries. Kochi were in command by the 14th over as they moved to 128 for 0 when Jayawardene deftly poked a Malinga delivery past the keeper towards a delighted Kochi dug-out. Next ball, Malinga removed Jayawardene with a yorker which prompted a surprise promotion for Jadeja. McCullum, though, kept Kochi on top with a couple of scythed boundaries in the 17th over that worsened Pollard’s evening.
With 27 needed off three overs, and nine wickets in hand, Mumbai gambled by bringing on Malinga for his final over. He delivered by bowling McCullum first ball, but Hodge eased Kochi’s anxieties with two walloped boundaries off the rest of the over. Jadeja, who has received plenty of criticism over the past two years, then justified his promotion with a couple of swiped sixes off Murtaza Ali to finish off Mumbai with an over to go.
It was the Kochi’s franchise first IPL win and Mumbai’s first defeat of the season, a result few predicted after Tendulkar had combined power and placement to reach a memorable century. It, however, came after a nervy start: Tendulkar was nearly run out on 0, umpire Paul Reiffel turned down two lbw appeals from Vinay Kumar which should have been given. There was also a close call for caught behind, and an outside edge off Thisara Perera that just beat the keeper.
Mumbai made relatively sedate progress, reaching 57 in eight overs before losing Davy Jacobs. The in-form Ambati Rayudu immediately took charge, blasting two sixes off Raiphi Gomez. A series of powerfully hit straight boundaries took him to 44, when the partnership had realised 64.
The final five overs turned into a Tendulkar show as he plundered 45 runs. Tendulkar showed how he could finesse the ball or force it depending on his mood: in the 16th over, a short ball on legstump was helped over fine leg for six, and a length ball outside off was pummelled over long-on for six more as 20 came off the over. A helicopter shot for four and a slugged six over midwicket took him to 90 after 19 overs.
Tendulkar proceeded to paddle a four past short fine leg, and bludgeon another past long-on before reaching his ton with a push to mid-off off the final delivery of the innings. The decibel levels shot up in the stands, but it was a muted celebration from Tendulkar himself on reaching the milestone.
Neither he nor the crowd were celebrating at the end of the game. One of the bigger worries for a formidable Mumbai unit was how dependent their attack was on Malinga’s form, something they will have to address after losing despite a solid batting effort.
Deccan charge gets the maiden victory
Posted by: | CommentsChasing the second-highest total in the tournament so far, Bangalore’s batsmen looked hapless throughout and had it not been for a battling half-century by Virat Kohli, they would have ended up in tatters. The four-man seam attack of Dale Steyn, Manpreet Gony, Ishant Sharma and Daniel Christian combined ruthlessly picking up eight of the nine Bangalore wickets.
Perfect spells of fast bowling from the entire cast of seamers helped Deccan Chargers inflict a convincing 33-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have now suffered two losses in a row. In the process, they laid to rest the curse of never having won a match at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in history of the IPL.
A surprise move, actually ridiculous, by Bangalore to send Zaheer Khan in at No. 3 lasted three deliveries, before Steyn demolished the Indian’s furniture with a fast swinging full toss. Mayank Agarwal tried pulling hard against a short-pitched delivery from Gony which climbed too fast and was caught easily at mid-on. AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary, two proven match-winners, had miserable evenings. The South African was deceived by Gony’s outswinger and Sangakkara happily accepted another offering behind the stumps when Tiwary tried to slog sweep against the legspin of Amit Mishra, but ended up skying an easy catch, pouched safely once again by the Hyderabad captain.
Tillakaratne Dilshan started off with a streaky boundary, a thick outside-edge off a seaming delivery from Ishant that raced through third man. But Ishant pitched the next ball perfectly on a length and hit the seam hard. Dilshan slashed wildly only for a thin edge to travel into the gloves of Sangakkara, who eventually ended the evening with five catches. If Sangakkara made the right decision to bowl Ishant’s four overs in one spell, Steyn – acting as the on-field bowling coach – made sure the Indian kept hitting a good length and avoided getting distracted bowling bouncers.
Only Kohli lasted the distance, keeping a calm head on his shoulders, while picking the right balls to hit to keep Bangalore’s flame of hope from being doused early on. A few good shots – including a raging straight six charging Mishra, and a fierce slog-sweep to go to fifty – were the highlights of his innings. But except for Cheteshwar Pujara, who should have batted up the order, none of the Bangalore batsmen applied themselves to stand up to the challenge.
If Bangalore’s batting seemed out of sorts, the Hyderabad men were solid and certain. Barring Shiktar Dhawan, who failed for the second match in a row, the rest of the hosts’ batsmen played smartly and kept pushing the run-rate consistently.
Having failed to convert his starts in the first two matches, the onus today was on Sangakkara to keep the middle order intact. And he came up with his most fluent innings to date, playing with a straight bat while building a valuable 50-run alliance with Sunny Sohal for the second wicket, which was the highest for any wicket for Hyderabad so far in the tournament.
Sohal hit the first six of the match and then got out attempting a second one, but Sangakkara played with measured aggression. He took advantage of a couple of easy full-tosses from Daniel Vettori early on, then rotated the strike smartly to keep the pressure on the bowlers, before charging Dilshan to hit an elegant six straight over the bowler’s head, his best shot. If Bangalore felt they could wrest the control after Sangakkara’s (tame) exit – he tried to chip a fuller and wider delivery from Johan van der Wath – Chipli quickly washed away those aspirations.
He had started with two powerful pulls, both off the back foot, one a six (against Dilshan) and next over a four (off S Arvind). But his biggest victory came when he got the measure of Zaheer.
The bowler of the World Cup was smashed for 22 runs in the nine balls Chipli faced. The onslaught included four fours, the last three coming back-to-back. The first one was slapped straight down the ground to the sight-screen, followed by a bottom edge which raced past the fine-leg ropes. And when Zaheer tried a sleight of hand by coming up with a slower delivery, Chipli, with a steady head, punched a handsome cover drive for another four to march to two runs short of a half century, which he duly completed. It was an innings of impact which caught Bangalore by surprise, and set his team up for that elusive first home win.
Kallis star for Kolkata’s home victory
Posted by: | CommentsThere could be many reason, it could be the overdose of cricket, or the absence of their adored hometown hero Sourav Ganguly, or just that it was a Monday night; it was only crowd at Eden Gardens as Kolkata Knight Riders eased to victory in their first home game of the season. On a turning track where the ball kept low, Kolkata’s batsmen all hit the ball hard to put up the highest total of the tournament so far, which seemed sufficient against Deccan Chargers.
Jacques Kallis provided another master innings, with a controlled half-century filled with boundaries. He wasn’t overly troubled by the new-ball attack of Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma, but the introduction of spin slowed the scoring as Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra teased the batsmen on a helpful pitch.
Kallis’ opening partner Manvinder Bisla’s lazy game ended soon after the fifty stand came up, as he failed to play a straighter one from Mishra. Kallis employed the sweep effectively against the spinners, and started to punish the part-time offerings of JP Duminy and Ravi Teja. A powerful swipe off Duminy got him to a second consecutive fifty, but he perished next ball as he attempted to clear midwicket again.
Gautam Gambhir, back in top the order of No. 3 after batting down the order in the opening match, hardly needed power as he picked off boundaries behind square. Manoj Tiwary’s batting was more spectacular, slogging two big leg-side sixes in one Duminy over. Yusuf Pathan also provided the Kolkata fans something to cheer as he unleashed his brand of power-hitting to club three boundaries off Steyn’s final two overs.
Mishra was the best of the Deccan bowlers, mixing in the googlies and sliders with his stock legspinner to trouble the Kolkata batting. Gambhir is widely reputed to be among the best players of spin in the country, and Mishra had the satisfaction of foxing him with a delivery that slid on to take middle stump. Mishra ended with 4-0-19-2 despite bowling two overs at the end of the innings.
The lack of pace in the Kolkata attack worked in their favour during the chase as the ball didn’t come on to the bat, making it difficult for the Deccan batsmen to play their shots. Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla squeezed the runs early on and he bowled Ishank Jaggi, who attempted an awful slog after struggling to 3 off eight balls. Soon after, Eoin Morgan pulled off a stunning piece of fielding to send back Shikhar Dhawan – diving to stop the ball at cover, and rifling in a direct hit while still on his knees.
The Deccan batting depends heavily on their three overseas signings: Kumar Sangakkara, JP Duminy and Dan Christian. Sangakkara and Duminy fell cheaply, both providing catching practice to Kallis in the deep, and it was left to little-known Bharat Chipli to keep the Deccan challenge going with a series of boundaries. He too gave Kallis a simple catch, and with half the side dismissed and the asking rate around 13, there was too much for Christian to do. He unleashed a few big hits, but by that stage the biggest worry for Kolkata was the blow to Kallis’ chin as he attempted yet another catch.
Pune Warriors wins over Punjab
Posted by: | CommentsEven triple digits looked a long way away from Punjab, after the top six had failed on a track with plenty of bounce, before South African allrounder Ryan McLaren pulled off some big hits towards the end of the innings to ensure it wasn’t entirely one-way traffic. That target, though, proved too tiny to trouble Pune’s line-up of heavy-hitters.
Subroto Roy, owner of the tournament’s most expensive franchise Pune Warriors, watched his team’s debut seated amid a group of models, who had plenty to cheer as Pune outclassed Kings XI Punjab at the DY Patil Stadium. Punjab was the cellar-dwellers of the previous season, and despite completely overhauling the squad, they turned in a performance that would have been expected from the deadbeats of 2010.
Pune made an outstanding start to their IPL journey, taking wickets in each of the first four overs to leave Punjab gasping at 9 for 4. South African fast bowler Alfonso Thomas will be little known to Pune fans, but he removed the biggest name in the Punjab line-up in the first over – Adam Gilchrist walking after edging a short ball to the keeper. Thomas’ new-ball partner Shrikant Wagh, a similarly low-profile bowler, also delivered, removing the second most dangerous Punjab batsman – Shaun Marsh whipping the ball to short fine leg.
After Dinesh Karthik holed out to third man, Punjab started a slow recovery before some amateurish cricket ended the stand between Sunny Singh and Abhishek Nayar. Both batsmen were ball-watching after Sunny punched the ball to wide mid-on, and he was more than halfway down the track before having to turn back. Instead of attempting to make his ground, he decided to berate Nayar instead, and though the fielder’s throw was way off target, Pune still had plenty of time to run out Sunny.
Punjab were soon 45 for 6 before McLaren intervened. He was cautious early on as he re-built the innings with Piyush Chawla, with only 25 runs coming in a nine-over spell, and even at the end of the 18th over, the run-rate wasn’t even five. It was only in the last two overs that McLaren showed his hard-hitting abilities, clubbing the ball over midwicket and glancing to fine leg as he plundered 22 to reach his half-century and slightly dent the party mood among Pune fans.
The first-ball dismissal of Graeme Smith also perked up Punjab. Mithun Manhas and Jesse Ryder, though, made sure there was going to be any dramatic turnaround. They put on 60 rapid runs, crashing at least one boundary in each over that they were together. Both fell in the space of five balls, but even that didn’t throw Punjab off course as their most expensive batsmen, Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, came together. Some schoolboy fielding gave both Yuvraj and Uthappa a life each, and they clubbed three sixes in five deliveries to hasten the finish.
Botha and Trivedi star for Rajasthan win
Posted by: | CommentsBotha walked out to a pressure situation, after Amit Paunikar was snared by a vicious Dale Steyn away-seamer in the sixth over, with the run-rate under six runs per over. Clearly limited as a batsman, Botha resorted to singles unless bad balls came along. When they did, he ensured they were sent to the boundary.
Pragyan Ojha was swept, Daniel Christian was scythed through the covers, Amit Mishra was reverse-swept and Steyn was pulled emphatically as the run-rate began to pick up. Rahul Dravid, however, continued to struggle and was eventually dismissed by a Steyn slower ball.
Deccan Chargers were up against the mother of all jinxes. They had never won a game in front of their home crowd in Hyderabad, and had finished second-best in each of their six previous games against Rajasthan Royals. Things did not change at the end of their IPL 2011 opener against a limited, but inspired outfit. A visibly slimmer Shane Warne, with his eyebrows tweezed and sporting a brighter shade of blue than last year, led Rajasthan with aplomb, and his team responded well. Siddharth Trivedi choked Deccan’s run flow with a canny spell of slow bouncers, before Johan Botha, elevated to the No. 3 spot, in the absence of Shane Watson and because of his comfort in playing fast bowling, guided them past the target of 138 in the 19th over.
Amit Mishra piled on the pressure with a tight follow-up over, leaving Rajasthan needing 54 off the last six. With the game in the balance, Botha glanced Christian for four before Ross Taylor hammered Mishra in the 16th over, cutting fine for four, and lashing over deep square leg for six. Thirty-two required off 24 and advantage Rajasthan once again.
Rajasthan could afford a couple of slip-ups in the chase, thanks to their excellence in the field earlier in the day. Deccan’s top order seemed ill-equipped to deal with the lack of pace on the pitch: Ishank Jaggi kept going hard at the ball, but could not succeed against the seamers’ discipline. Shikhar Dhawan looked to crunch boundaries through the off side, but just as he began to size up the conditions, he slogged Amit Singh straight to deep midwicket.
Steyn was not done though, producing an exemplary fourth over that went for just two, including three successive slower balls that Botha could not get away. Ishant Sharma, who had begun well, let the game slip with a shoddy 18th over that was plundered for 15 runs. The over began with a no-ball and included a slew of length balls, the last of which Taylor catapulted over midwicket. Botha sealed things in the 19th, in the process marching past 50.
Thereafter Trivedi and Warne put their side in control. Kumar Sangakkara has had a hectic week, losing the World Cup final, standing down as Sri Lanka captain and taking charge of the Deccan side. His stint with the new franchise got off to a poor start as he edged an effort ball from Trivedi behind for a duck. When Bharat Chipli inside-edged a heave across the line, Deccan were in some strife and things got worse when Jaggi dragged Warne to long-on.
Warne evoked sights of his dominance over Daryl Cullinan as he reduced JP Duminy to groping and fumbling without conviction against his sliders.
He eventually fell slicing Warne to long-off, as Deccan’s innings floundered for momentum in the death overs. Christian and Ravi Teja injected some late momentum, but the final score of 137 was not enough to break the Hyderabad hoodoo.
De Villiers crashes Kochi with responsibility
Posted by: | CommentsThe first came in the ninth over in which Sreesanth leaked 15 runs as Bangalore moved to 80 for 2. It was a full delivery, off a free hit, and de Villiers went down on a bent knee to paddle-scoop it for a stunning six over fine-leg. The next blitz from him came after spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ravindra Jadeja choked up the run flow in the next few overs. With 33 runs required from the last three overs, de Villiers imposed himself against Raiphi Gomez, who was asked to bowl his first over in that pressure situation. The second delivery was smashed over midwicket, the fifth disappeared over long-off and the final delivery was bulldozed over long-on. Game over.
Five blistering sixes from AB de Villiers, and his 52-run partnership with Saurabh Tiwary, won the night for Bangalore Royal Challengers.
It wouldn’t have been an easy decision for Mahela Jayawardene, Kochi’s captain, to turn to Gomez but RP Singh’s poor effort in the 15th over must have forced his hand. With 59 runs needed from the last six overs, RP Singh bowled a poor over. The first delivery was outside leg stump and Saurabh Tiwary shoved it to the fine-leg boundary. The second was a wide, the third was spanked to the straight boundary, and he kept bowling length and went for 15 runs.
McCullum and Laxman are as different as a Bollywood masala flick and art-house cinema, but they combined superbly to lay a good platform.
McCullum was the McCullum the world knows: aggressive, adrenaline-pumping and audacious as ever. He sashayed down the track in the first over to slap a Zaheer Khan delivery over extra cover, but really exploded in the second over against Dirk Nannes. A blasted off drive was followed with a slashed boundary but it was a thunderous pull over the midwicket boundary that really tested the lung power of the home crowd.
Bangalore played the waiting game well; they saw out Muralitharan and treated Jadeja with some caution as they knew the seamers could be taken for plenty. It was the same resolve that saw them come back in the game with the ball and restrict Kochi to 161 after Brendon McCullum and VVS Laxman had added 80 runs in the first nine overs.
Laxman has been itching for the IPL to start to prove his worth in the shortest format of the game. There were a few lovely hits: a late cut for four against Tillakaratne Dilshan, lofted on drives on a bent knee and a couple of flicks, but it was a flat-batted thumping six over long-on that really declared his ambition to do well in this tournament. It was a short-of-length delivery from Abhimanyu Mithun, who must have been really shocked to see Laxman back away and flat-bat it over the boundary.
However, slowly, and surely, Bangalore began to claw their way back. In the final delivery of the ninth over, Laxman slog-swept Dilshan straight to deep midwicket, and in the 12th over, McCullum fell, top-edging a paddle scoop off Virat Kohli.
Suddenly, the slow bowlers began to apply the squeeze. The legspinner Asad Pathan combined well with Kohli to keep Brad Hodge and Mahela Jayawardene in check. Jayawardene tried to break free against Daniel Vettori but was stumped in the 15th over, and Brad Hodge was yorked by Zaheer Khan in the 18th over.
It was left to Jadeja, who showed maturity in his shot selection, preferring the straight hits down the ground instead of across-the-line heaves, to push the score along. He did his bit with the ball too but it didn’t prove enough.
